Red Arrows at Cosford

Right, I joined this Forum a little while ago to try and improve my photography (and also my processing skills). I have commented on other peoples threads for a while now and helped out where I can, so now I feel it's time to take the plunge and put forward some of my own work for scrutiny. These shots are from the Cosford Airshow earlier this year, which I have just got around to working on. I am interested in knowing which shots you like, which you don't and why (if you have the time). C & C away and please feel free to be honest if you feel they're crap - but please tell me why, I appreciate constructive criticism, rather than a simple 'they're crap'.

OK, here goes:

1. One of several shots of a single aircraft, this one is typical. I feel on fairly safe ground here although the shot is 'unadventurous'.

To continue..

5. Another crossover shot, but in poor lighting.

SandPiper

Great Shots, 3 ,7 & 8 are my fav, love the vapour trails on the wings. If i had to chose 7 would be top in my opinion

Nice Job

Nigel

these are fantastic! i could only hope to get anything similar, my favourite is number 7 also.

Hi sandpiper
My impressions are of a nice set
#1 not realy keen due to the shadows , I normally like odd ighting as it can off drama but not sure here , also the angle doesnt show off the hawk due to the port wing being cutoff by the tail.
#2 nice shot , me likey
#3 totally agree about blown areas , I see them with my eyeballs , it looks natural , it looks like a crop though due to the sky noise and not sure the saturation helps.
#4 ok, not my cup o tea though.
#5colour looks a bit odd , dust ?
#6me likey , looks dramatic , maybe a bit pp heavy? also looks like dust @f7.1
#7 not keen as again it looks ike a crop with odd coulour and noise , also the angle of the planes , but others like it so who cares what i think
#8again looks to have noisy sky , odd colour and a lost plane bottom left , but i like it for its drama.

hope i've offered an honest opinion which you asked for , overall i quite like them but i feel youve maybe gone a bit tight on some and I know its hard to manage the colours in differing conditions.......

alway good to see the reds

Many thanks for the kind comments Nigel and Stupot

Also big thanks to John (Peacock), that is exactly the sort of feedback I am after - gives me plenty of information that I can use and I agree with what you have said. Most of the points that you mention are just a matter of having another go in PS.

Yes, the slightly noisy ones are cropped to remove the excess empty sky, even with the 100-400 I don't always have enough reach and crop more heavily. I grew up on film and so grain was a fact of life and a little noise doesn't bother me too much, I think I will get a copy of Noise Ninja or similar however, to cut it down in future.

Good points on #1, I hadn't thought about the port wing much, you are quite right of course.

I think #2 is pretty much my favourite too, glad you like it

The colour on #5 is a little tinted I agree, I think it's a trace of red smoke still drifting across the sky - looking at the right hand side the sky appears a more natural colour. I did try dialing in some correction but in order to shift the red tint I ended up with too much cyan in other areas. Oh and yes, well spotted you saw the deliberate mistake, I left the dust spots in on that one (and #6)

Your comment about cropping a little too tightly has also been taken on board, I do tend to like a fairly tight crop when I am resizing to fit in an 800x600 box for web display as I can keep more detail in the subject. Mind you I don't like excess empty space in general, although I will use it as part of the composition at times. Again, this can be corrected by redoing in PS as all shots have been cropped to some degree. The 'lost plane' in #8 is there in the original, I actually left it in on the first version I produced but this brought in more empty sky on the left and bottom sides and I felt the tighter crop has more drama. Very much a matter of personal preferences I feel.

Whilst I am very much aware that there is room for improvement in my shooting skills, It is very much in the area of post-processing that I am looking to improve my techniques and abilities, due to it being a much newer (and thus steeper) learning curve, since I have gone digital.

Many thanks again for taking the time to give me such a detailed C&C.

Cheers,
Graham

I really like 3,6,7,8. Very nice captures. No worries about cathing the sun on the wings. I think it is personal taste...I like it and looked for it in some of my shots. Keep up the great work. Hatch

I like them all

I really like #4. It would have been ideal if the plane in front had been the one you had panned on, but I really like the dynamic look of the shot.

I also like #6. It's an unusual shot and I've been trying to do more wider shots at airshows myself but nothing has turned out this nice.

I'm also a fan of tight crops and like the crop on #1. I like seeing the pilot so well.

The highlights in 3 and 8 do add interest but aren't really my thing.

Nice job!

Wow, I think you did a great job - I'm sure I could be more critical, but since I don't think I could do this great a job with such a fast moving subject, I'll reserve criticism!! Some of those shots are downright scary!! The planes fly so close to one another!

Many thanks to all for the latest comments, they are all very much appreciated.

I think they're all great, I love the Red Arrows, they make me proud to be british (for once!)

i like them a lot, think you did very well.

Second shot kills IMO.my favourite.!!

Wow, 2 & 8 are my favourites, I see the compositional problems with 8 but for a sense of excitment it's top notch

Mark